A New Chapter
by DeeSarrachi
Summary: What happened after the Ring was destroyed? (Warning: This will spoil the end a bit!)
1. Welcome to the Shire

Disclaimer: I own absolute jack-diddly in this fic. All characters, places, histories, etc. belong to the great god of fiction writing JRR Tolkein. I am borrowing his characters for a bit, and will return them unharmed after this story.  
  
A/N: Just in case you missed the warning before, this WILL spoil quite a bit of the plot of LoTR. If you are waiting for the movie or are still reading the last book, I warn you now: this spoils the end. If you read it, don't complain about me spoiling it, I warned you twice. Thank you, happy reading.  
  
~*~  
  
Many years ago, the One Ring of the Dark Lord was destroyed in Mount Doom. Frodo 'Nine-Fingered' Baggins and his servant Samwise Gamgee reunited with their kinsmen, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, and returned to the Shire, where they gained further renown by scouring it clean of the taint of Saruman. Later, the Ringbearers Frodo, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf Greyhame, Galadrial and Elrond Halfelven passed from Middle-Earth into the Grey Havens, never again to be seen. Samwise, Mayor of the Shire, returned with Peregrin, the Thain, and Meriadoc, Master of Buckland. There was much coming and going of them to Gondor, to pay homage to the King, Aragorn son of Arathorn and his queen, Arwen Evenstar. And so begins our story...  
  
~*~  
  
A New Chapter  
  
~*~  
  
Elanor Gamgee sat staring out at the Shire in general. Her back was to the large mallorn tree her father, Samwise Gamgee, had planted years ago, before she was born. The Shire had, apparently, been very different than, and that was what the golden-haired hobbit was thinking of as she stared out. Was it just her, or did the grass seem less...green than other years, the water more faded, the air staler? Anytime she told her suspicions to others, they told her she had an imagination...but no hobbit-sense. Except for her father, and the Thain, Peregrin Took. After she'd told ~them~, they had shooed her away and had a long council, after which Sam rode off on a pony to see the King in Gondor.  
  
He did that often, ride to the King, thought Elanor. She really couldn't complain, she supposed it was the duty of the Mayor to do such things, but why couldn't he take her along? It was one of her biggest dreams, to see all the lands her father had traveled along with Frodo, the most famous of hobbits. He had traveled across the long miles to the south and east, to a mountain and done...something. Elanor wasn't quite clear on the details, but whatever had happened, it had been good.  
  
Now, though, she simply stared out at the Shire, watching the familiar hobbits go about their usual duties. Speaking of which, she should be getting home, she still had chores to do.  
  
Carefully, she stood up, brushing off her skirt and dashing across the field to her home in Bag End. It had supposedly belonged to Frodo, but when he had left, he had given it to Sam. Elanor cleaned it from top to bottom every week; a chore that her sister Goldilocks would soon be helping her with. For now, Elanor gathered the sheep on the way, and locked them carefully into their paddock.  
  
She bade the sheep farewell, patting each on the head and giving them treats of apples or carrots. She knew each by name, since it had been her job to care for the flock for four years now, since her youngest sister Ruby had been born.  
  
Elanor was the oldest, now fast approaching her twenty-first year. Her twelve siblings ranged in age from Frodo (only two years younger) down to Tolman (Who was not yet a year old.) Elanor never complained about tending to her many sisters and brothers; in fact she rather enjoyed leading them over the hills and through the forests of the Shire. It was on these wanderings that Elanor had noticed the diminishing of the Shire, the subtle changes in the air, the water, the earth.  
  
For now, however, the thoughts of afternoon tea were chief in the hobbit- lass' mind. Her mother had been cooking for much of the morning, and it promised to be an exceptional affair, a sure sign that guests would be arriving.  
  
~*~  
  
A/N: Yes, I know: short. But it gives most of the background, with a mini cliffhanger. Who is coming for tea at the Gamgee's hobbit-hole? And yes, all the ages of Elanor and her siblings are correct. I checked the family tree at the end of the Return of the King to be sure. Please review! Thankies. 


	2. Dreams do come true

Disclaimer: I bet you are all smart enough to realize that a fifteen-year- old Canadian girl is not a...very old English man. Therefore, I don't own the characters, or the settings. I do own the plot, and ~wish~ I owned the mighty (cute) Thain. However, I have no money, and they aren't selling him on E-Bay. You can buy a soul, but not a hobbit. *sigh* Anyway, you get the point. Tolkein owns everything, I own nothing. Except a jelly lolly, which the cat stole. Just read the story.  
  
~*~  
  
Dreams ~do~ come true  
  
~*~  
  
"Mother, I'm home!" called Elanor cheerfully from the front hall of Bag- End.  
  
"Ah, Elanor! Just in time for a meal. You're starting to show a Baggins-ish sense of time, my dear. We're in the study, and could you bring some more poppy-seed cake?" Elanor's mother, Rose Gamgee, called from within the warm regions of the hobbit-hole.  
  
Grinning happily, Elanor dashed to the pantry and---with a little less speed and a bit more caution---carried a plate of poppy-cakes into the study.  
  
Sam and Rose Gamgee sat side by side in front of the fireplace. Sam's sandy brown curls were just starting to be touched with paler wisps, a sign of his worries about his family and office as Mayor. Rose's hair was as golden as ever, and her warm blue eyes still sparkled with youthful vigor.  
  
Their companion had the thinly-bladed nose of a Took, along with the same curly red hair. His jade-green eyes sparkled mischievously in the firelight, making him look much younger than his fifty-two years. Elanor gulped instinctively. Her parents didn't have just any Took over for tea. They had ~the~ Took.  
  
"Hello, lass. We've met, am I right?" Peregrin Took extended a friendly hand to the younger hobbit.  
  
"Yes, sir." replied Elanor shyly, shaking hands with the Thain.  
  
Peregrin laughed. "Just Pippin, my dear." He addressed Sam and Rose next; "A very smart daughter you have here, Sam. But I doubt Rosie would have it any other way, hmm?"  
  
Elanor's mother laughed. "Pippin, I swear, every time you see a female, you feel the need to compliment her. Does Diamond know of you habits?"  
  
Pippin feigned a downcast look. "Yes. But she married me anyway." Rose shook her head. Pippin turned his gaze to Elanor. "You're the one Sam told me about, right? Who thinks the Shire is..." He looked to Sam for help.  
  
"Fading?" put in Elanor.  
  
Pippin glanced at her, eyes more thoughtful now. "Yes. Exactly. The Shire was fading. I was wondering, exactly what do you mean by fading?"  
  
Elanor prepared to explain her feelings when a knock sounded on the door. "Who could that be?" wondered Rose aloud. "We weren't expecting anyone. Elanor, go and get the door, will you?"  
  
Nodding quickly, Elanor dashed down the familiar hallway, stopping suddenly at the door. She pulled it open, revealing what could only be another Took. He had the same ruddy hair and turned-up nose as Pippin. His eyes, however, were a dark shade of brown.  
  
He was out of breath, as if he had run all the way from the Great Smials. "M-message for...for the Thain and the Mayor. Must speak to them." he panted.  
  
"Um, right this way, sir." said Elanor, showing the hobbit-messenger in. "Father, Pippin, a message for you." she called ahead.  
  
Sam and Pippin reached the front hall simultaneously, but it was the Thain that spoke first: "What news? Who has sent for us?"  
  
Sam looked at his daughter. "Elanor, go help you mother tidy up tea." The unspoken meaning was clear: 'This may not be for your ears. Please leave.'  
  
Elanor curtsied, taking her leave of the older hobbits. She turned and walked slowly back to the study, hoping to catch some of the message, but the three spoke in low voices and she was unable to hear anything except low murmuring.  
  
Once she entered the study, she found her mother already placing the teapot and cups back on their tray. "Take this to the kitchen, Elanor. Then go and find your brothers and sisters, they went on a picnic. I think they're near the Brandywine river." Stifling a sigh, Elanor did as she was bid. Still, she couldn't help but wonder what had been so urgent that a messenger would need to run from the Great Smials to Hobbiton.  
  
~*~  
  
Later that evening, after her siblings had gone to bed, Elanor walked alone in the garden. It was the pride of Hobbiton, the Gamgee garden. Sam tended it daily, with the help of Frodo, who was showing as much of an interest in gardening as his father. No weed dared rear its head within the enclosure of the garden fence. Elanor loved the garden because it seemed to her to be a piece of another realm, transplanted within the Shire. It reminded her of the stories her father would tell about elves in far-off lands.  
  
Suddenly, Elanor heard the sound of voices. Glancing around, she spotted the open window of her own hobbit-hole. Quietly, she snuck forward until she was directly under the window, and able to clearly hear the discussion.  
  
"Sam, what did that messenger want?"  
  
"It's nothing, Rose. Just news of the roads..."  
  
"Don't try that on me, Master Gamgee. I know that look of yours. There is no way that I'm letting you leave for Gondor! Not now, with the roads being dangerous and all..."  
  
"Rose, how do you know the roads aren't safe? I've traveled to Minas Tirith plenty of times and..."  
  
"I just have a feeling, Sam. Please don't go. I just ~know~ something is going to happen, I can feel it."  
  
There was a long pause as Sam thought about it.  
  
"Alright Rose. I won't go. A written message will do well enough, I suppose. I'll write it tonight."  
  
Elanor crept away from her hiding place and collapsed under the Party Tree, as it was called. It was the large mallorn tree brought back by Sam from his trip. What should I do? she thought. What can be so important that the King has to know now? And why couldn't father just use a written message from the start?   
  
There was only one thing to do. It was probably the one thing she'd been dreaming of since she'd first heard her father's tales of lands beyond the Shire. She was going to have to leave the Shire, with the message, and ride to Gondor and the King. All she had to do was wait until her parents were asleep, take the message, and some food. Then she could sneak out and find her way to Gondor. She didn't stop to think of how long it would take, or her mother's ominous words about the conditions of the road. All she could think of was that finally, she would get to have an adventure as great as her father's.  
  
~*~  
  
A/N: Wowies. I have put up two chapters in the same day! This is truly amazing. You may have already discovered this, but thoughts are in marks, emphasis in ~~ marks. Oh, and also: Yes, another title of the Thain is The Took. No, this won't be a way for me to have fun with Pippin, since he's no longer in the story. Or at least, he has almost no mention. If you have any comments at all, feel free to use the review option, or e-mail me directly. Criticisms are welcome, how else can I get better? But, please don't flame. And before you ask, no, there won't be any Legolas in this tale. I'd like to thank you all for reading this story, and don't worry, more stuff will happen soon. And....do you think that orcs are still around after the Fall of Sauron? Out of curiosity... 


End file.
